


Alien's Invade New York. (Again.)

by DustySoul



Category: Daredevil (TV), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alien Invasion, BAMF Claire Temple, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-09
Updated: 2015-08-09
Packaged: 2018-04-13 17:36:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,329
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4530951
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DustySoul/pseuds/DustySoul
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sam/Claire meet cute... in the middle of a battle field.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Alien's Invade New York. (Again.)

**Author's Note:**

> For the DD kinkmeme  
> http://daredevilkink.dreamwidth.org/3230.html?thread=7069342#cmt7069342

There are aliens invading New York. Again.

Twelve hours at the ER means that Claire sleeps through all the alarms and all the new of the evacuation. She wakes up in the middle of her neighborhood turned war zone.

Somehow, god, somehow, routinely patching up a reckless, half crazy, blind vigilante means she’s prepared for this. Or, as prepared as a non super powered civilian can be.

The first thing she does is turn on her emergency radio. While listening to the reports about the damages and casualties she throws what ever she’s got into her first aid bag. It needs more bandages, **a lot** more gloves, rope, rope, where's her rope, she’s going to need rope. And hand sanitizer.

When she walks out the door, radio in hand, bag over her shoulder, it’s with the knowledge that, as ever, she just so happens to be right in the middle of it. Or, in this case, her apartment is.

The battle’s coming to an end, from the amount of destruction she can see. This time, it’s more of an aerial than anything. The streets are almost deserted, rubble here, rubble there. She stops to speak to everyone she comes across.

“What’s going on?” One girl, early teens, asks her.

“Alien invasion.” Claire tells her, “Let me see to your head wound.”

“Head wound?” The girl reaches up to where she’s bleeding. And starts screaming.

Claire coos at her while she flushes it out with saline.

“It’s not deep. You’re going to be fine. What happened?”

“I don’t know.” The girl’s eyes well with tears.

“It’s going to be okay. You’re going to be okay. I’m sure there’s a plan to pick up stragglers.”

“How do I get out of here? How do I get out of here?”

“I don’t know. The news says the affected area is a forty block radius.”

“Are we right in the middle of it again?”

“Yes. Let me check your eyes." The girl stands obediently will Claire shines a light in one eye, then the other. "Do you feel dizzy, nauseous, or confused.

The girl shakes her head.

"Who's your favorite member of the Avengers?"

"Iron man."

"Good, good. You're fine." Claire says, "Can you walk?”

The girl visibly pulls herself together and nods. She wipes her nose on the back of her hand.

Claire points to what she thinks is the safest route. “You have good, sturdy shoes. You’re going to make it.” She also hands over a bottle of water.

She doesn’t have that many. But she doesn’t know who’s going to be alive to need it.

 

 

There’s a man lying among downed power lines. And there’s nothing Claire can do.

When she walks over the piles of rubble, some a story high, she wonders who’s buried beneath it.

 

 

A dog barks at her. She doesn’t know if she should let him out of the yard he’s trapped in. If any of the cramped duplexes surrounding him come down… If she frees him and he runs over live power lines...

She knocks on the house he belongs to, just to make sure his owner is gone.

A woman in a night dress answers the door. At least Claire isn’t the only one who slept in.

“Ma’am.” Claire says, “You need to get out of here.”

The woman signs something at Claire.

Claire walks a little ways down the steps and points to the destruction out side.

The woman rushes back in the house. Probably to grab her things and the dog.

While she’s gone Claire rights a note, describing the situation and the best way to get out of the city on foot.

 

 

Maybe an hour into all this one of the alien ships pass over head. It knocks into the building at a spot about ten stories above her. Claire darts as fast and as far as she can from the falling debris, ending up an an alley just around the corner. When she climbs over the rubble and back to the street, it’s unrecognizable. The entire front of the struck building has fallen away. The alien ship, or maybe carcass, lies about a block away. 

She puts one of her paper masks on. She's going to need it to keep from breathing in the dust. But with those leaked SHIELD files talking about an alien disease and a possible pandemic… well, Claire’s going to be as careful as possible passing close to any of those things as she can.

 

 

She stops at some point, realizing that she never had breakfast. She packed all her granola bars though. She stops in a door way that’s set into the building a good four feet and eats with her back pressed against it. It’s the safest place she can think of. If the aliens shoot at the street she’s out of the line of fire, and if something hit’s the building this spot is probably the most structurally sound.

Nothing eventful happens though. She eats, she drinks, she takes a piss, inelegant and clumsy as that last action is.

 

 

There’s someone calling up for help.

It takes Claire a second to work out where the sound is coming from. (Apartment building, open third story window.)

“I’m coming!” Claire shouts back.

The glass doors are all ready broken, the pavement glitters with the shards. The power’s out. She takes the stairs, struggling to figure out where the apartment is located in relation to the stair case.

Once she’s at her first guess, she pounds at the door.

“Oh! Thank god!” She hears from inside.

A dog opens the door.

Claire rushes in and finds the person. She’s sitting on a sofa next to the open window.

“I can’t get down the stairs.”

“I’ll help you.” Claire says.

She locates the persons wheel chair. It’s too heavy, and probably wouldn’t be much use on the streets anyway. 

“I’m going to carry you out of here.”

“Then what?”

Claire is silent for a few beats, brain whirring. “Is there anything you need to bring? Any medication?”

The woman points to a back pack by the door. “I was leaving, was all the way at the elevators when I discovered they weren't working. I’ve been screaming for what feels like hours. I didn’t think anyone would come.”

Claire passes over another water bottle.

“I’m Ella, by the way.”

“Claire.” And with that, Claire hauls Ella up on her shoulders.

The dog goes berserk until Ella says, “It’s okay, Rox.”

They make their way down the stairs. It takes a lot longer the second time. The building shakes once. Fortunately, Claire doesn’t loose her footing and the ceiling doesn't come down on their heads.

She sets Ella down in the entry way of the building across the street. There’s no glass there.

“What now?” Ella asks her.

Claire looks around. She’s lost track of where she is, of her ‘best way out’. “Listen to the radio.” She says, handing it over. “I’m… going to figure something out.

She walks out to the middle of the street, looking down as far as she can see in one direction, then the other.

In the distance, in the sky, there is a flying thing.

Claire hasn’t seen many of the aliens, but she knows this one is too small to be one of them. She runs to grab a reflective vest from her bag, where she’d left it next to Ella. She runs back in the middle of the streets and waves it, screaming. Ella catches on and starts screaming as well. Rox starts barking.

“Help! Help! Help!” They yell, and it might as well be a wordless call.

The flying thing gets closer, does a little flip, and comes in to land.

Claire quiets, not wanting in shredding her vocal cords. 

A man with wings lands a few feet in front of her.

“Are you an Avenger?” She asks, breathless.

“Yes.”

“Can you get her out of here?” She gestures to Ella, “She can’t walk.”

The man goes over to her.

Claire comes over as well, she packs up her radio and rearranges her first aid bag.

“What’s your name?” The Avenger asks her.

“Ella.”

“Hi, Ella, I’m Sam. I’m going to help you get out of here. First you need to put this on.” He hands her a complicated vest made of straps. “And how heavy is your dog there?”

“60 pounds.”

“And you?”

“140.”

“I can take you both in one trip. Will your dog bite me if I try to put a vest on him?”

“She won’t.”

“Okay then.”

Claire pulls her gear back together.

Ella tries to return the water bottle.

“I have enough. Besides, you don’t know what the triage is going to be like. Keep it.”

Ella nods. Claire watches them take off. And watches them fade into the distance.

And then heads onwards.

 

 

She treats a broken arm, a sprained ankle (who fortunately had crutches in his home), and a very confused someone suffering from dehydration and probably a bit of a hang over.

“Hey, you had the right idea.” Claire tells him, “Since the world’s ending, and all.”

 

 

She’s lost all concept of time when the flying Avenger startles her by basically landing behind her out of nowhere.

“Hey.” She says, when her hearts stops racing.

“I came back to get you.”

“Oh. Yeah, that makes sense.”

“You shouldn’t be out here.”

She looks around at the ruin. “I guess not. How’s the battle going?”

“Much better than the last one.”

“The property damage doesn’t seem to reflect that.”

“The number of nukes used does.”

“Oh, yeah.” Claire stares back across the destroyed main street.

“It’s over, now.”

“Is it? I… never saw much action on the ground.”

“No, it was mostly in the clouds, over the ocean.”

“Sounds like a pain. Cold and wet, for a guy like you.”

“Let me take you out of here.”

“I could just go back to my apartment, if it’s not too badly smashed.”

Sam shakes his head, “Even if your building isn’t, what about the buildings to either side?"

“…Yeah. But… everyone else.”

Sam sighs, “You know, being out here, you’re risking making yourself another casualty.”

Claire thinks about that. Thinks about the little clinic she runs out of her living room. And thinks of the number of times she's washed Matt’s blood out of her sofa. _I guess he’s rubbing off on me. Ruining my self preservation instinct in favor of this saving other’s stick._ She laughs, a little breathlessly at the thought.

“The sun’s setting about now. It’s a great view.” Sam says. “You know, if the whole flying thing isn’t a good enough bargain.”

She looks at him, “Has everyone else been evacuated?”

“We’re sending in SHEILD teams now to get the rest. They’re about ten blocks away. And while a helicopter ride is a pretty sweet deal, I think my wing pack is just a little bit better.”

Claire laughs for real, “Alright, give me your harness thing.”

“If it’s alright,” Sam says, passing it over, “I’d like to take you to Avengers tower. It wasn’t affected this time.”

Claire stares at him while doing up the thing. “Why?”

Sam shrugs, “You helped a lot of people today, ma’am. That’s not something we see often.”

Claire makes sure the vest is nice and snug. “Alright.” She agrees.

Sam steps towards her and fastens the back of her harnesses to the front of his and then wraps his arms around her shoulders.

And before Claire really knows what’s going on, they’re in the air. 

Claire's never been on an airplane before. Watching the city, even in it's smoking ruin, fly by underneath her is  _incredible_. And the sun on the water.... The sun on the buildings... You can't actually tell it's setting up here at all. It's probably not, technically. Something to do with physics, and all that.

Still... everything's so small. It looks like the miniature model towns she's seen in museums. Except more alive, more real. 

And sure, she's seen this kind of view in movies, but it's still not the same. She's filled with some great and vast feeling as her heart pounds in her head. Like it's her very soul that's flying, not just her body. It would take her breath away except the wind forces itself into her lungs.

And there's all of  _New York City_ and north Jersey  _right fucking bellow her._

She starts laughing and she can't stop.

"This is amazing! This is amazing!" She screams. They city sprawls bellow her, like it has a life of it's own.

“On a scale of 1 to 10 how much do you love roller coasters?”

“Um… Maybe a 7?” Claire yells over the wind in her ears.

“Do they make you sick even a little?”

“No.”

This time Claire knows what’s coming as Sam goes into a barrel roll. Claire raises her arms above her head, like this is Coney Island and she’s on the thunderbolt.

Except this is way, way better than the thunder bolt.

 

They land on the large balcony of Avengers Tower. It sinks in then, as Sam helps her out of her harness, that not only has New York been trashed, but that she some how got invited to hang out with the super heroes who kept the damage confined just to New York, instead of the whole world. 

She puts a hand over her racing heart and struggles to just breathe.

"It can be intense." Sam says.

Claire shakes her head, "Flying, sure. Another alien invasion. Another..."

Sam rubs soothing circles into her back. "It can be intense." He says again, this time meaning all of it.

"Yeah." Claire says, taking in one long, steading breath. "Sure can be."

"You did great out there." He tells her.

She shakes her head.

"What's your name, by the way?"

"Claire. Claire Temple."

"Well Claire, when I say something, I mean it. You did  _great_ out there."

She presses her lips together.

"Come meet the team. If you won't believe it from me, maybe you'll believe it from Captain America."

He tries to lead Claire away with an arm slung over her shoulder, but she doesn't budge. "Don't worry, he's just as good in person as the history books had you believe."

"I never trusted history books." Claire tells him.

"Neither did I. That's why it's so amazing." He has the same tone as when he'd said _You did great out there._  

 

 

The team is clustered around a counter. Hawkeye, Black Widow, Iron Man, The Hulk (now just Bruce Banner), Thor, and yes, Captain America. 

The Black Widow is watching her with a great deal of interest. Everyone else seems too tired to even look at her. Tony Stark has fallen asleep at the table.

"Guys, this is Claire Temple. She's the civilian who was helping the stranglers evacuate." 

Clint Barton gives her a thumbs up.

"That's Clint, Natasha, Tony, Bruce, Thor, and Steve."

"I know." Claire whispers.

"It's a little weird if you don't use our first names."

"We're not in super hero mode anymore." Bruce says.

Claire smiles.

"So... um..."

"Someone's going to want to give you a prize." Tony says. It's almost indistinguishable since he didn't pick his head up off the counter. Bruce runs a hand absently through Tony's hair.

It strikes Claire how domestic the whole scene is.

She and Sam gravitate toward Clint (and by proxy, Natasha). It's like the softer, squishier, vulnerable human part of the team are drawn together.

Claire squints at Clint, suddenly realizing she's seen him before.

"What?" Clint says, rubbing at his nose a little self-consciously.

"I've seen you before." Claire tells him.

"Probably buying a hot dog or something. I don't really live at the tower."

"No..." Claire says, "That's not it."

Sam returns, offering her a glass orange juice. She hadn't noticed he'd left.

"What is it?" He asks her.

"I'm trying to remember we're I've seen Clint before."

She hums, thoughtfully.

Both Sam and Natasha observe her, curious.

"Dumpster!" She finally declares.

Clint chokes on own his spit.

"Right? I patched you up after the Russian mob threw you in my dumpster."

Clint considers her for a long time. "I didn't want the team to know that."

"Oh... uh..." Claire says, her turn to be self-conscious. "Sorry... Then... about that."

Sam claps him on the shoulder. "It's fine man. You're good now."

Clint leans into the touch like an abandoned cat. 

It makes Claire want to hug him. And it makes her feel bad that she hadn't been more gentle when she tended to him. She's never rough... She's sometimes just overly practical. 

As the team eat and drink they gain more of their energy back. Tony lifts his head from the table and talks science with Bruce, both of them playing with the same hologram produced by the kitchen counter. Natasha seems to be teaching Steve Russian.

It makes her feel... not like she's apart from them... but not like she's apart of them either.

She voices this to Sam.

"You see why I wanted the company, then?"

She looks from him to the team.

"I'm the newest member. It doesn't always feel like it... but..." He shrugs.

She nods, "Yeah, I get that."

 

 

They watch Star Wars that night. Once most of the others (Tony, Bruce, Clint) have fallen asleep, Sam and Claire go back to the kitchen to keep talking and have "real food".

"I know this may seem weird, but you can stay here?"

Claire thinks about it, "I don't really have friends in the area. So... I don't need to check up on them..."

Sam nods.

"It is weird." Claire tells him.

Sam smiles, "We have plenty of empty rooms. And you can leave any time, just tell JARVIS."

JARVIS had been explained to her earlier that evening, when pulling up the movie.

She nods. "Alright."

"And." Sam tells her, "You can ask JARVIS for some new clothes."

"I must look like a wreck." 

"Just a little worse for wear." Sam tells her.

"Yeah, I'll stay."

 

 

That night her cell phone rings.

It's her burner phone. It drags her out of sleep as effectively as being dosed with a bucket of cold water.

She scrambles to her bag to answer it, then checks the time: 12:05.

She drags herself into the sitting room, wanting to look out those windows and try to find Hell's Kitchen among the skyline. "Matt?" She sighs.

"Claire?"

"Please don't tell me you need help. I don't know if you've been paying attention but there's been an alien invasion. What ever's happen just play it off as part of that. Or as some fight that happened when mayhem started, Matt, just go to the fucking ER this time. I'm not even in Hell's Kitchen right now."

"I um... was just calling to make sure you're alright."

"Oh. Um. I'm fine."

"That's... good."

"I'm... going to hang up now. We'll talk later?"

"Yeah. Later. Bye, then."

She closes the phone, and let's out another long sigh.

"I didn't mean to eavesdrop." Sam says.

Claire doesn't start this time, but she does turn around to face him. "I didn't wake you, did I?"

"No," He comes to stand by the windows as well, "Nightmare."

"Ah."

"You ever get those?"

"Yes." She whispers as images of that night, the baseball bat smashing the car she'd been backed up against, being showered in glass press against her eyes.

"It's rough."

"It is."

"Looking out at the city helps."

Claire pushes her hair behind her ear, and really looks at it.

"You're um... friend?"

"Is okay."

"That's good."

"If, um, you don't mind me asking-"

"I um... Do kind of mind." She looks at him, pleading. "I'm... doing my best, okay?"

"I don't doubt that."

They share a look.

"I, um, I'm going to go back to sleep." Claire excuses herself.

She doesn't sleep well.

 

**Author's Note:**

> I haven't been able to create a chapter 2 from this. I will write more of them, just not more of this story.
> 
> \--
> 
> Feel free to message or follow me on tumblr at dusty-soul.tumblr.com


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